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Knockhill - Expectations Met.......................................................................................................................Back To Reports and News
5th July 2009
 The British Super Bike Championship visited Knockhill in Scotland at the weekend and Alex put his local knowledge to good use in the two rounds of ‘The British National Super Stock 1000 Championship’.
Alex has impressed in this his rookie year in the championship already scoring points with an 11th place finish at Donington and a 12th at Snetterton and was looking to go one better at his local circuit.
However it was not without difficulties Despite Alex’ knowledge of the track, we had no set-up information for the ASTRO Kawasaki ZX10R.
This was not evident in Free Practice which was held on a very wet track with Alex finishing the session in 7th position overall, which was very impressive considering the circumstances.
Problems arose however when Qualifying 1 was held in the dry, the gearing and suspension settings were not as good as they could have been and Alex struggled to put in a good time.
The team around him worked well in the time before Q2 and although far from perfect the bike was going better, throughout the 30 minute session Alex visited the pits on numerous occasions for adjustments to be made, going faster each time he rejoined.
With 6 minutes to go he returned to the pits for the final adjustments to be made before pushing to improve his time in the last few minutes but as he left pit lane, it started to rain and he had to return, as there was no way he could have went any faster in the conditions, settling for 15th slot on the grid for the 2 races to be held on Sunday.
Both Races were held in the dry, although the first one at 10.30am was overcast.
A tremendous start from the youngster as the lights went out, seen him jump a few places further forward, by the end of the lap he was up to 10th. A fantastic race saw him under pressure for all of the 20 laps but I don’t think he put a foot wrong, finally crossing the line in 8th position, his best result of the year.
 Race 2 was held in brilliant sunshine and expectations were high although no one expected any more form the 18 year old.
Again another very mature race from Alex, who again launched his ASTRO Kawasaki ZX10R off the line, gaining a few places in the process as they went into the first corner.
It was the factory Kawasaki of James Hillier who put the Carluke rider under pressure this time as a pack of four bikes jostled for the lead of the group.
Gault lost out to Hillier, after out braking himself going into the hairpin on the last lap and almost being passed by Marshall Neil but the Scott held on finishing in 8th place, collecting another 8 points and taking him to 12th place in the championship overall.
Up front it was that man Alistair Seeley in another titanic battle with current champions Steve Brogan, who took another two wins: after Brogan out braked himself at the hairpin in the second race.
This takes the Irishman Seeleys total to 7 race wins in a row and maximum points at the lead of the championship.
There is now a break in the Championship racing for the Super Stock Classes as they do not go to the next round to be held at Mallory Park in Leicestershire.
It will be round 9 when the championship visits Brands Hatch GP in Kent on the 7/8/9 of August before Alex sees more action.
View Pictures from Knockhill Here
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